Adelson, Azrieli Foundations Award $45 Million to Birthright Israel

The latest gift to the foundation from Sheldon and Miriam Adelson brings the couple's total support for the Taglit-Birthright Israel program — which offers subsidized educational trips to Israel for Jews between the ages of 18 and 26 — to more than $250 million, making them the top donors to the program.

Separately, the Toronto-based Azrieli Foundation announced a five-year, $5 million commitment to the Birthright Israel Foundation of Canada. The funds will be used to expand the Taglit-Birthright Israel program's offerings for eligible Canadians; sponsor trips for individuals with developmental and/or physical disabilities; and create a challenge fund to match other gifts in support of the program. The gift also will be used to enhance the Holocaust education component of the BRI trips with publications and educational tools from the foundation's Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program.

"The Azrieli Foundation gift is a statement of the foundation’s commitment to Jewish identity and to the next generation of our Jewish community," said BRIFC board chair David Engel. "It will help ensure the continuity of a phenomenal program that impacts thousands of Jewish young adults, and it will hopefully encourage others to consider contributing to the Birthright Israel Foundation of Canada."